Box-filling devices for matchmaking machines



J. TISCH 3,032,952

BOX-FILLING DEVICES FOR MATCH-MAKING MACHINES May 8, 1962 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 27, 1959 nvvavrok JOSEF T\SCH PM) I wa WW y 1962 J. TISCH 3,032,952 I BOX-FILLING DEVICES FOR MATCH-MAKING MACHINES Filed April 27, 1959 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENT P JOSEF TISCH yg' N A T TORNE Y8 3,li32,952 Patented May 8, 1962 lice 3,032,952 BOX=FELLING DEVICES: FUR MATCH- MAKING MACHDJES Jesef Tisch, 11 Bredtschneiderstrasse, Berlin-6harlottenburg, Germany Filed Apr. 27, 1959, Ser. No. 809,211 18 Claims. (Cl. 53-236) This invention relates to box-filling devices for match making machines.

In heretofore known arrangements when the matches finished in an automatically operating match-making machine have been ejected from the plates carrying them, they have to be conveyed further in a rather complicated manner and partly by manual operation and boxes have to be filled with them, the counting of the number of matches per box in particular giving rise to difiiculties. To arrive at performances which are satisfactory in regard to quantity, checking of the filling is only imperfectly possible.

The lack of an organic incorporation of the filling process in the rhythm of the match-making machines is found to be a considerable shortcoming and renders difiicult rational operation without loss, as well as the saving of labour. It is therefore the object of the present invention to render fully automatic the filling of the boxes with matches, to connect it directly to the ejection of the matches, and at the same time to ensure as far as possible exact counting of the matches in the individual boxes. At the same time, the invention is also intended to result in a considerable acceleration of the output, so that filling can be adapted without difficulty to the existing production of the match-making machine, and furthermore, so that stoppages at the individual filling stations will not involve any impairment or interruption of the over-all operation of the machine.

This is achieved by associating with the outlet of the match magazine, fed by the ejection device of the machine, a conveyor member provided with collecting pockets, and conveying further the separated quantities of matches to a conveyor belt provided with matchbox trays. The number of these collecting pockets and the speed of the conveyor member furthermore render it easy to control the filling process exactly, in particular so that the feeding of the magazine by the ejection device and the packing of the matches from this magazine in the boxes can be adapted to one another.

Elements of various kinds are available as a conveyor member between magazine and box conveyor. Thus, for example, it is possible to use a belt which conveys the separated match quantities over a chute into box trays moved thereunder. Such a belt-like conveyor may be moved either continuously as an endless belt in one direction or it may perform a reciprocatory movement, co-operating alternately with two chutes.

Alternatively, after the match magazine, a conveyor wheel may be provided which then has the pockets for the separated match quantities either on its face or on the periphery. If these pockets are provided on the face of the conveyor wheel adapted to rotate about a vertical axis, a similar construction may be used as in the case of a conveyor belt, namely that the pockets of the conveyor member have openings, moved over a support of the member provided with chutes.

In a preferred embodiment of the invention, however, there is used as conveyor member, a wheel adapted to rotate about a horizontal axis, which is provided on its periphery at suitable intervals with pockets, these pockets preferably embodying independent elements interchangeably mounted on the wheel periphery. Filling of the pockets is effected from the outlet of the magazine in a substantially tangential direction, that is to say more on the side of the wheel periphery or only radially from above in the region of the upper vertex of the wheel. Discharging of the pockets on the other hand in the regular case will be effected substantially at the lower vertex of the conveyor wheel, past which there will be moved in a substantial tangential direction a conveyor belt, for example a chain belt, on which the box trays to be filled are set at intervals. Of course, the periphery of the conveyor wheel between feeding station and delivery station will be entirely or partly covered by a retaining strip or a conveyor belt for holding the divided match quantities in the pockets.

A very advantageous feature of the invention is that by the use of the aforesaid conveyor device between magazine and box loader, the matches to be filled into the individual boxes may be counted and located exactly by mechanical means. For this purpose, it may be appropriate to insert between the lower edge of a jolter forming the outlet of the magazine, and the periphery of the conveyor wheel the forked end of a plate, the number of prongs or gaps of which determines the number of matches to be taken each time from the individual pockets. Since, in fact, a certain number of matches falls between the prongs of such a fork and arrives on the conveyor member, which in its turn may also have at the conveyor pockets a corresponding number of grooves, it is possible without difiiculty, by means of the number of pockets or carriers of the conveyor member, which are discharged into a box, to effect exact counting of the matches.

The invention will be further described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 shows diagrammatically in side view, the part of a match-making machine, in which the finished matches are ejected and filled.

FIGURE 2 shows in a section the co-operation between match magazine and conveyor member.

FIGURE 3 shows in plan a forked intermediate plate.

FIGURE 4 is a plan of a pocket of the conveyor member.

FIGURE 5 shows in a vertical section, the filling of the matchbox trays by the conveyor member.

FIGURE 6 represents diagrammatically in section, a modification of the feeding of the conveyor member.

FIGURE 7 shows on a larger scale a corresponding sorting device.

In FIGURE 1 of the drawings, 10 denotes the guide track, on which the carrying plates provided with matches are passed from the drying installation or conditioning chamber (not shown) to the ejection device 11. Following this ejection device, which operates in known manner, and below it, is a supply magazine, which for example is covered with a fireproof glass plate 13 and permits the descending matches to be observed by the attendant personnel.

The magazine 12 opens into a jolter 14, whereby the matches are brought into a regular position before being transferred by a conveyor member 15 in the manner according to the invention to a belt 16 on which the matchbox trays 17 to be filled are set. At the position denoted by B is a control desk, from which the entire filling operation can be observed and regulated.

FIGURE 2 shows in a larger vertical section the transfer of the matches to be filled into the boxes from the magazine 12 to the conveyor member 15. Here 18 denotes the match carrying plate which is just in front of the ejection device. The matches 19 carried by it drop after being ejected into the magazine space 12 and slide from there further into a jolter 20, while the emptied plate 18 is returned on the guide track It to the insertion device.

The conveyor member 15 is a wheel or disc, which in the example shown in the drawing revolves in the anticlockwise direction and has arranged on its periphery at intervals, pockets 21, 22 and so forth for receiving separated quantities of matches. Each of these pockets, which advantageously are detachably mounted on the wheel periphery, has a pusher edge 23 at a certain height, which, as shown in FIGURE 2, depending on the arrangement, serves for carrying along one or more layers of matches 24 leaving the bottom of the jolter 20.

Inserted between the outlet of the jolter 20 and the periphery of the wheel and held by a frame 25 is a plate 26, the construction of which is shown in FIGURE 3. According to this, the plate terminates at its front edge, that is in the direction of rotation of the wheel 15, in a number of fork-like prongs 27, 28, 29 and so forth, spaced apart at such a distance that one match can just drop between them. At their roots, as indicated in FIGURE 3 at 30, the prongs are constricted somewhat, so as to form enlarged spaces 31 between adjacent prongs. When, in fact, the bottom ends of the splints are inserted in the plates in the match-making machine, burrs or other deformations are often formed in this region, a part of the splint being split, for example. The gaps 31 of the plate 26 make allowance for this and thus ensure that the matches will drop freely through the fork, even if the rear end of the match should be irregularly formed in the manner described.

The pron s 28, 29 of the intermediate plate 26 are made rather shorter than the matches, so that the heads of the latter lie free in the fork.

FIGURE 4 reproduces the plan of one of the pockets 21, 22 showing that a number of grooves 32, 33 and so forth have been machined in this pocket, so that the total number of these grooves corresponds to the number of gaps between the prongs of the plate 26. Consequently, when under the influence of the jolter 20, matches drop through the fork of the plate 26 into the pocket of the wheel 15 below, then according to the height of the pusher edge 23, very definite number of matches is carried along by the pocket, and it is this circumstance which automatically permits exact counting of the matches to be packed in a box.

On the periphery of the wheel 15, the matches contained in the pockets 21, 22 travel to the filling station, as will be gathered from FIGURE 5, the periphery of the wheel 15, between the jolter and the filling station being covered by a strip 34 which, for example, is adapted to be moved aside and is transparent.

As will be seen from FIGURE 5, the chain belt 16 already indicated in FIGURE 1 moves past and below the wheel 15, on which belt are fixed at suitable intervals holding frames for the matchbox trays, for example plastic boxes, which are to be filled, the holding frames being extended upwardly to form a kind of filling chute 36, by means of which the matches dropping down are conducted reliably into the tray.

In the example shown, a guide surface 37, forming the continuation of the covering strip 34, terminates at an appropriate distance in front of the lower vertex of the wheel 15, so that the matches 39, contained in the pocket 38 arriving at that position slide, partly by the effect of. the pusher edge 23 and partly by the efiect of gravity, out of the pocket into the box tray situated thereunder. Two directing members here ensure that the matches are placed in orderly fashion in the tray. One of these memhers is a double lever, adapted to pivot on the pin 40, one arm 41 of which lever is acted upon by a corresponding control surface 4-2 of the wheel 15, while the other arm 43 forms a hold-down pawl. The control movements are effected in such a manner that the arm 43 presses the falling matches into the box tray, that is to say, it eliminates any standing up of the matches. The other directing member consists of an eccentric 44 which pushes the falling matches uniformly into the tray and thus prevents individual matches projecting beyond the end of the tray.

When the chain belt 16 advances the filled trays, they first of all pass to a control station, at which the attendant personnel can detect and remove any possible irregularities. The trays are then assembled with the outer box and transported further in any desired manner for counting, packing and so forth.

It will furthermore be seen from FIGURE 5 that the frames 35 for receiving the box trays in the course of their transport by the chain belt 16 (or some other conveying means) are moved on a guide way 45, which in the region of the filling station is set at an inclination in order to facilitate the dropping in of the matches.

As previously mentioned, instead of the conveyor wheel 15, it would also be possible to employ some other ele ment for transferring the matches from the magazine to the boxes. Even on the basis of a construction as shown in FIGURES 2 and 5, however, modifications in various respects would be possible. For instance, the position at which the matches pass from the magazine to the wheel periphery could be shifted from the upper vertex of the latter to the side. On the other hand, the belt conveying the box trays could run at an angle of for example from the arrangement according to FIGURE 5, or instead of the parts 16, 35, a belt or rail-shaped part could be provided at intervals with openings, approximately of the size of a tray and moved over a guide track which, at a suitable place likewise provided with an opening, covers a track along which the trays are moved in a predetermined rhythm. The match quantities separated in the conveyor member 15, in the case of such a construction, would first drop into the opening of the rail or belt moving below the member 15, which opening would be covered from below, and would be pushed by the belt to the second opening mentioned, under which the trays would be moving.

Furthermore, since the level of the matches in the fillmagazine varies only within narrow limits, the conveyor wheels may be connected to their driving shaft by electromagnetic or mechanical devices, so that they can be stopped selectively for longer or shorter periods.

The filling device according to the invention can be used directly for ordinary matchboxes, but it may be advantageous to use box trays which have a particularly smooth bottom and for this purpose consist for example entirely or partly of plastic or artificial wood, or the tray bottom may be covered with a smooth foil or the like.

In the constructional example of the invention described and more particularly shown in the drawing, it has been assumed that the ejection device of the match-making machine supplies the finished matches directly to a magazine, from which the conveyor member feeds the filling device. However, there may be inserted between the said conveyor member and the ejection device a group of elements which would make it possible to equip any existing match-making machine, whatever its construction, with a direct box-filling device of the kind according to the invention, and more particularly independently of the given local conditions. According to a further development of the invention, this is made possible by providing between the said ejection device and the conveyor member a collecting hopper, a cleaning drum fed by it and a straightening riflle, in which case the connection between the collecting hopper and the cleaning drum may be of any form adapted to the local conditions.

FIGURE 6 of the drawing shows an example wherein the ejection device 11 co-operates with a hopper 46 which, by means of a blower 47 and any form of conveyor length 48 can be discharged into a cleaning drum 49. From the cleaning drum, the properly conditioned match material passes to a straightening riffle 50, from the latter to the previously described jolter magazine 20 and thence in the manner hereinbefore described to the conveyor member 15, which is discharged into the matchbox trays 17 moving past and below it.

The straightening rifile is provided with an overflow 51 from which the excess material passes into a trough 52, whence it is returned to the drum 49 via the conveyor length 53.

FIGURE 7 shows on a larger scale how the straightening rifile 50 may be constructed. According to this figure it consists of any number of shaking conveyor troughs 54, arranged over corresponding glide tracks 55 and provided with a system of longitudinally directed drop-through slots 56 and 57. The length of each individual slot is slightly greater than half the match length. From the inlet edge 58 of each slot a guide surface 59 extends obliquely forward and downward towards the glide track 55.

FIGURE 7 shows clearly the manner in which the conveyor troughs of the straightening rifile operate. If, for example, a match 60, the head 61 of which already lies forwardly in the conveying direction, arrives over the slot 56, this match due to the extra weight of the head 61 tilts downwardly in the manner shown and slides down on to the track 55. The same process also occurs when, as illustrated by the match 62, the head 63 at first lies on the conveyor trough opposite the conveying direction. In this case also, the match head tilts forwardly in the slot 57 and is deflected at the guide surface 59 so that the match lies properly on the glide track 55, as indicated at 64-.

Modifications of the invention also include finally an advantageous constructional form in which the conveyor member does not consist of a drum or the like, but a strand. In this case, in fact, the conveyor strand may be composed of a plurality of individual belts, which are adapted to be driven selectively either in common or severally, and each of which, viewed in the transverse direction, has only one pocket, formed as an opening, for receiving a match. Since these individual belts on their support run over chutes, only one match will always be conveyed into the box tray moved past and below the support. In this case, a photo-cell may be associated with the openings of the various conveyor belts and co-operate in its turn with a counter, and in this way, with appropriate periodical movement of the tray-conveying strand, the number of matches to be placed or already placed in the trays can be controlled and counted exactly. Of course, in this case also, it is possible to arrange for the individual narrow belts, in which the drop-through slots are situated, to be stopped and started as desired by electromagnetic clutches or other means, in order to regulate the filling operation and the maintenance of a predetermined level of material in the match magazine.

What I claim is:

l. A box-filling device for match making machines having a match magazine fed by the machine, said device including a conveyor member, said conveyor member having match collecting pockets therein, means to move said conveyor member through a path wherein the pockets pass under said magazine, a jolter adjacent said magazine and a fork-like plate between said magazine and said conveyor member, said plate having spaced apart prongs the gaps of which determine. the number of adjacent matches to be carried by said collecting pockets.

2. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 1, in which the plate has enlarged spaces at the roots of the prongs, and the prongs are shorter than the matches so that the heads project freely therefrom.

3. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 1, in which the match collecting pockets are aligned in the direction of movement of the conveyor member and the plate is mounted with its longitudinal axis parallel to the path of movement of the conveyor member.

4. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 3, in which the conveyor member is a wheel, and said Wheel is mounted on a substantially horizontal axis which axis is perpendicular to the longitudinal axis of the plate, and the collecting pockets comprise parallel grooves corresponding to the spaces in the plate.

5. A box-filling device for match making machines, comprising a magazine forming an upright chamber adapted to dispose matches fed thereinto in parallel and one over another in a stack and having a bottom outlet for delivery of the matches from the bottom of said stack, a conveyor member provided with a plurality of separate match collecting pockets and movable through a fixed path to move said pockets successively to a match collecting station beneath said outlet, in which said pockets collect matches by gravity from said stack, and thence to a discharge station remote from said magazine, where the matches collected fall out of said pockets, each of said pockets being formed to receive and remove a single layer of the matches from said stack at said collecting station, and means beneath said conveyor member for conveying match trays successively to and away from a filling position adjacent to said discharge station in which each tray will receive the matches falling from a predetermined plurality of said pockets.

6. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 5, in which said conveyor member is a wheel having an endless sur face containing said pockets and extending continuously through said collecting and discharge stations, said wheel holding each pocket at said collecting station in an upwardly facing position.

7. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 5, in which said conveyor member is a wheel mounted for rotation about a horizontal axis and having a cylindrical peripheral surface containing said pockets, said magazine outlet being adjacent to said surface in the region of the upper vertex thereof and said discharge station being in the region of the lower vertex of said surface.

8. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 7, and arcuate retainer means lying next to said surface between said stations to hold in said pockets the matches removed from said stack.

9. A box-filling device for match making machines, comprising a magazine forming an upright chamber adapted to dispose matches fed thereinto in parallel and one over another in a stack and having a bottom outlet for delivery of the matches from the bottom of said stack, a conveyor member provided with a plurality of separate match collecting pockets and movable through a fixed path to move said pockets successively to a match collecting station beneath said outlet, in which said pockets collect matches by gravity from said stack, and thence to a discharge station remote from said magazine, where the matches collected fall out of said Pockets, each of said pockets being formed to receive and remove a predetermined number of the matches from said stack at said collecting station, and means beneath said conveyor member for conveying match trays successively to and away from a filling position adjacent to said discharge station in which each tray will receive the matches falling from a pre-determined plurality of said pockets, said pockets extending and being moved by said conveyor member in the direction of the length of the matches in said stack so that the matches are delivered longitudinally from said magazine to said trays.

10. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 9, wherein each of said pockets comprises at least one longitudinal match receiving cavity and an upright edge at the trailing end of said cavity to engage the tail end of a desired number of matches of said stack and push the matches longitudinally out of the stack.

11. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 9, said tray conveying means comprising means for holding each tray tilted in said filling position so that the tray bottom is aligned with the path of falling longitudinal movement of the matches from said pockets.

12. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 9, said tray conveying means comprising means for holding each tray in said filling position until it has received the desired number of said matches falling from said pockets, and means for directing the falling matches into the tray.

13. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 9, and means at said discharge station operated by the movement of said conveyor member to press down into each tray in said filling position the matches falling thereinto from said pockets.

14. A box-filling device for match making machines, comprising a magazine forming an upright chamber [adapted to disposed matches fed thereinto in parallel and one over another in a stack and having a bottom outlet for delivery of the matches from the bottom of said stack, a conveyor Wheel mounted for rotation beneath said magazine about a horizontal axis and comprising a cylindrical peripheral surface provided with match collecting pockets at regularly spaced intervals thereabout, said wheel being rotatable to move said pockets successively through a match collecting station in the region of its upper vertex, where said pockets respectively pass beneath said outlet to collect matches by gravity from said stack, and thence through a match discharge station at the lower side of said wheel, where the matches collected fall out of said pockets, each of said pockets being formed to receive and remove a predetermined number of the matches from said stack at said collecting station, and means beneath said wheel for conveying match trays successively to and away from a filling position at said discharge station in which each tray will receive the matches falling from a pre-determined plurality of said pockets, said pockets extending and being moved by said wheel in the direction of the length of the matches in said stack so that the matches are delivered longitudinally from said magazine to said trays.

15. A box-filling machine as claimed in claim 14, in which the conveyor wheel has a cooperating cam surface and the match press-down means comprises a double arm lever, means to pivotally mount said lever, one of the arms of said lever being adapted to engage the matches entering the tray, the other arm of said lever being adapted to engage the cam surface.

16. A box-filling machine as claimed in claim 9, including a conveyor having holding frames for said box trays, said holding frames having upwardly projecting, filling chute-like Wall parts.

17. A boxfilling device for match making machines, comprising a magazine forming an upright chamber adapted to dispose matches fed thereinto in parallel and one over another in a stack and having a bottom outlet for delivery of the matches from the bottom of said stack, a. conveyor member mounted below said magazine and having match collecting pockets therein, said conveyor member being movable through a fixed path longitudinally with respect to the matches in said stack to move said pockets successively through a match collecting station beneath said outlet, where said pockets collect by gravity and remove matches from the bottom of said stack, and thence to a match discharge station remote from said magazine, where the matches fall out of said pockets and may be collected in match box trays, and means for feeding matches ejected from a match making machine into said magazine longitudinally, said feeding means including a trough conveyor leading to the top of said chamber and a straightening riflie operative on matches supplied thereto in random arrangement to deliver the matches onto said trough conveyor in longitudinal alignment and with their heads in the same relative positions.

18. A box-filling device as claimed in claim 17, in which said straightening riffie includes a shakable conveyor trough and a sub-jacent glide track, said trough having longitudinally directed drop-through slots the length of which is slightly greater than half a match length, each of said slots having on the inlet edge a guide surface extending obliquely forwardly and downwardly towards the glide track, and means to shake said ritfle.

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